The MBTI’s 4 Simple Questions

What refreshes and revives you: being with people (E) or being alone (I)?

This isn’t about being outgoing or shy: both extroverts and introverts may sincerely enjoy being with other people. But introverts usually feel in need of time alone after being in a crowd, while being with people makes extroverts want to have another party.

In an airplane, an Extrovert turns a three hour flight into a party with the entire row, while an Introvert avoids the middle seat and pulls out a book as a defense against anyone who might want to start a conversation.

How do you make decisions: do you focus on the cold, hard facts (T) or do you consider the people and situations involved (F)?

Thinkers will step back and critically analyze a situation before they make a decision. They want to be known for their accomplishments and decisions. Feelers tend to make their judgements based upon the emotions, feelings, and people associated with the decision. Feelers want to be appreciated.

As a manager, a Thinker would let an employee go to balance the budget, while a Feeler would cut anything to save the company, besides the people.

How do you organize your time: do you love to plan and be prepared (J), or do you like to be flexible in case something better comes along (P)?

Judgers are detailed and see things in black and white. They are viewed by others as task-oriented planners. Perceivers are flexible and adaptable in relationships and situations. The outside world sees them as people-oriented and relational.

The night before a big speech, a Judger is running through his outline and laying out the clothes he already had picked, while a Perceiver is madly jotting ideas down knowing he won’t get any sleep for speech writing.

Profiles of the MBTI Personality Types

Putting the four letter choices together forms the 16 different combinations we know as the MBTI:

ESTJ: The Supervisor is practical and works hard at projects and routine details.

ISTJ: The Inspector is thorough and wants to do their duty by everyone and everything.

ESFJ: The Provider is the warmhearted hostess who facilitates community.

ISFJ: The Protector defends what is right and stands guard over the weak.

External Attitudes: The first and last letters indicate which of the two mental functions you use to interact with the outside world.

Dominant and Auxiliary: One of your mental functions is dominant; the other one balances it out. If you are an Extrovert, the function that is seen by others is your dominant function. If you are an Introvert, the outside world is not likely to see the real you–so your auxiliary function is what others are likely to see.

Inside and Outside World: If the last letter is P, you use one of the perceiving (information-gathering) functions (S or N) with the outside world. If the last letter is J, you use a judging (decision-making) function (T or F) with those around you.

Thanks to my friends ISFJ Vicki V. Lucas and INFP Elisabeth for helping this ESFJ simplify and clarify this post! And thanks to my INTP friend Melinda for showing us how simple the system is in the first place.

I'm a farmer's wife and mommy to our four curly-haired children. I love words and The Word. I write in CSS, HTML, PHP—and English. I collect old books, vintage kitchenware, cute aprons, and dark chocolate.

Community Conversation

I just gathered info about this from internet tests and a bit of a look at the real site, so I could be wrong (do you have any free sites recommendations), but it seems as if you confused sensing and intuition. Even the words themselves seem to match better with immediacy and thoughtfulness (in that order). Again, I could be wrong, but I was just wondering, because it would affect my set if letters greatly (this was one of my definitely one or the other letters-one set I was really neither because the descriptions were too limited). I find all these personality posts fascinating. They inspired me to try to find my letters again and get my sister and mom to as well.